Animation Transition from 3ds Max to Maya

JearBear The Mighty

Hey everybody, I just have one question. Are there any resources to help me transition from animating in 3ds Max to animating Maya (including rigging and skinning)? I've been looking for internships recently and I haven't found a single one that is for 3ds max. All of the positions either require Maya or don't specify. So in an effort to land a position I'd like to start learning Maya's animation pipeline and get comfortable with it before too many more opportunities pass me by. If anyone could point me in the right direction then that would be great!

slipsius

Are you still applying for the maya ones? Most companies will let you learn on the job. I only knew maya at the start. Learned max on the job. Same with motion builder when I changed companies.

animation is pretty similar in Maya though. It's actually better (in my opinion.) Graph editor is basically the same. s keys things. f focuses on the selected item. Your best bet is to just jump in and do. The biggest thing for you will be learning the camera movement, really. If there's something you dont know how to do in maya, just youtube it.

As for rigging. These 2 helped me most.
- http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/35/Character-Rigging%3A-The-Puppet-Rig#.Vi_pPberTRY
- http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/468/The-Skinned-Character-Rig

JearBear The Mighty

Well, with that in mind then I'll definitely go and apply to the positions I've been passing. Thanks a bunch for the help, I'll start experimenting in Maya and check out the links you posted.

Rmunday

I am very much an Amateur, used max for 3 years until I finished university, then made the transition to Maya. It was very simple and easy, the hardest part is different shortcuts and navigation (which can be changed to share max's navigation keys). Rigging and skinning seems simpler, at least to me. Smooth binding a mesh usually works pretty well as a starting point then the weight painting tools work pretty much work the same in both programs.

The graph editor is very similar, the axis in Maya differ to max however I believe Maya uses Y-up instead of Z-up.

Gook luck with the transition!

Arturow

In my experience was from Maya to Cinema 4D xD , its different but when we (animators) got the job they just told us to study the program and do a walk cycle just to test that we were ready to animate in C4D. The people will mainly look at your animation skills instead of a software

Good luck in your job hunt!